Startups Stories

Corey Mohn, Blue Valley CAPS

Vote now: Kansas Citians vie to lead tech, education panels at SXSW 2019

A cadre of Kansas Citians are hoping to take the podium at one of the nation’s largest tech and innovation conferences in 2019. At least four Kansas City tech and entrepreneurship leaders are vying for panel or speaking spots at the 2019 South by Southwest conference March 8-17 in Austin, Texas. SXSW recently opened voting…

Erin Smith, FacePrint

Lenexa teen IDs winning medical solution with Parkinson’s detection tech FacePrint

Stanford University will have to wait. Eighteen-year-old Erin Smith is taking her medical technology venture, FacePrint, on the road. The Johnson County teen has been selected to join two prestigious fellowships to further develop FacePrint, which is a diagnostic and monitoring Tool for Parkinson’s Disease. She’s been tapped for $25,000 from the Davidson Institute for…

Inc 5000

Inc. 5000 report: Kansas City retailers among metro’s fastest growing companies

Shoppers are buying, spurring retail growth in Kansas City, according to details gleaned from the 2018 Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies list. Released Wednesday morning, the report showed a slight dip in performance for Kansas City overall compared to 2017. Three dozen Kansas City-area firms landed on the 2018 Inc. 5000 list, a drop from the…

Chad Elliott and Chris Brown, Contract Canvas

KC-based Contract Canvas earns finalist slot for WeWork Creator Awards in Nashville

Returning to WeWork’s Creator Awards to pitch Contract Canvas was a defining moment for Chris Brown, as well as the year-old legal startup, he said. “I worked harder on this pitch than perhaps any pitch I’ve ever given,” said Brown, hours after a flight back from meeting with Creator Awards judges in New York City…

Roy Scott, Healthy Hip Hop, Champ the mascot and Maurice "Champ" Woodard, Champ System

First down for Healthy Hip Hop: Roy Scott teams with Champ for game-changing reboot

If it’s making money, don’t give up on it, said Roy Scott, rapper-turned-founder of Healthy Hip Hop. A new partnership with Champ System — a growing Kansas City sports apparel company with a popular hip hop-inspired mascot — will keep the performance- and tech-based startup in school gymnasiums and beyond as Scott’s company continues a…